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Sunday, June 29, 2008

We had another fun and busy day today! We went to church this morning and then afterwards we were heading straight out to Mississauga to visit my family. I couldn't remember unplugging my flat iron...so Scott had to drive home first and check, and then him and Elijah headed out to meet us at my Grandma's house. It was their first time seeing Ella and Mama didn't want to put her down! It's pretty neat for my kids to have a great-great Grandmother! All the kids had fun together, we ate lots of food, and enjoyed the company.

On our way home we were going to stop at the Carruthers' house to say goodbye to them. We got back into Whitby around 9:30pm and called them but they had just sat down at Kelsey's for dinner. So... we decided to take all the kids and go shopping at Walmart! Great Grandma had just given them each $20 and they were looking forward to buying something.

This is what happens when Scott and the kids are out too late.....

No comment....

They did have fun though! The kids all picked out a little something for themselves, and Scott picked out something for Jed...

Around 10:30pm we left and headed to the Carruthers' house. Mrs. Carruthers had some gifts for the kids, and we got to say goodbye to them. They have been such a blessing to our family....we will miss them! But, we're also excited for them. We know that God has big plans for them as they start out in a new place.

At last, we got home around midnight and put all the kids in bed... fed and changed Ella...and then we crawled into bed around 1am. I love making fun memories with our kids. :)

Friday, June 27, 2008

Yep... I'm officially a "Soccer Mom". Driving my kids to soccer on Friday and swimming on Saturday... Soon it will be hockey, music lessons and who knows what else.... Makes me thankful for all that my Mom did for me. :)

The kids love soccer with Grandma and Grandpa. Though Elijah is kinda torn between playing soccer...and playing with Keaton!

Or....

A very difficult choice for a 4 year old boy! :)Thankfully, Scott had the day off today. So we took the kids to a big park nearby and had a great time.

The big slide there was seriously scary... I went down once with Jed and that was all for me! lol. I told Scott to go down and bring the camera with him... :P

Thursday, June 26, 2008

It's almost here....the long weekend!!!! Scott has been working so many hours lately it seems like we don't see him all week. I cherish our "teeeeaaaa" and "copeeeee" (as Jeddy says it) time in the morning. Where we get to sit (usually with a child, or two...or three.... :) and recap our previous day together, talk about our plans for this day, about what the kids have done and said...and really just enjoy eachothers' company. So we've really been looking forward to this five day weekend.

This morning I told the girls that we had a surprise for them on Tuesday. They started guessing like always...and were WAY off base like always... "Marineland?! The CN Tower!??"- Then Keona pipes up, "Tuesday is Canada day....fireworks!?!?" Well, I try to hide it by saying, "Noo...." but I have a slight grin on my face...surprised by her guess. (seeing as we have never taken them to fireworks before) She then says, " I see that smile!! It is fireworks!!!!! I can tell by your face!" haha... They are getting smarter...and not so easy to trick anymore.

We also had an interesting conversation tonight when the girls heard on the news that a baby had been born in a car on the side of the road... (A conversation that hadn't been initiated yet because I've had c sections...that's easy to explain! :P) Anyhow... Eve says, "Her stomach just popped open and the baby came out?!" haha ummmmm?...

Me: "No....most babies aren't born by c section like you guys were..."

Girls: "Well, how are they born then???"

(Me explaining how babies are naturally born.....)

Prayer: "That's just weird!"

Keona: "That sounds PAINFUL!" (stops to think....) "I want to have c sections when I have babies!"

Charity (who has been sitting there thinking this whole time...) : "So the baby just POPPED OUT????"

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

A very nice family lives next door to us. A mom, dad, grandma, a boy named Nicholas who is Keona's age, and a boy Jeddy's age. Nicholas has gone to church and VBS with Keona before and soon after she was saved, she witnessed to him. This winter he told her that he prayed on his own later and that he was saved. She was so excited! She came in to tell me in tears....

Fast forward to last Sunday...Keona asked me if she could go to the bookstore after church and use her own money she had saved to buy Nicholas a Bible. Of course we said "yes"- and that night Scott took her to get one. She picked out one the same as hers- except it's blue! She was quite disappointed when we got home and he wasn't outside....

Monday afternoon I saw him out the door and told Keona. She grabbed the Bible and ran out the door to give it to him. He smiled and thanked her....she told him it was special and to take care of God's word. It was so sweet. He told her that he was going to take very good care of it and he brought it inside. She was ecstatic. So happy to be a blessing to someone else, and encourage her friend like that. :)

The Grandma came out to thank me, and I told her that it was Keona's idea...and her own money. She was so pleased and explained to me how she only has a bible in her own language (Romanian) and that she has to translate it to read it to Nicholas. She was grateful that he now had one to read on his own.

Sunday, June 22, 2008

I just had to share this story because I thought it was so funny... probably because I can relate!

Tired Dog-

An older, tired-looking dog wandered into my yard; I could tell from his collar and well-fed belly that he had a home and was well taken care of.

He calmly came over to me, I gave him a few pats on his head; he then followed me into my house, slowly walked down the hall, curled up in the corner and fell asleep.

An hour later, he went to the door, and I let him out.

The next day he was back, greeted me in my yard, walked inside and resumed his spot in the hall and again slept for about an hour. This continued off and on for several weeks.

Curious I pinned a note to his collar: 'I would like to find out who the owner of this wonderful sweet dog is and ask if you are aware that almost every afternoon your dog comes to my house for a nap.'

The next day he arrived for his nap, with a different note pinned to his collar: 'He lives in a home with 6 children, 2 under the age of 3 - he's trying to catch up on his sleep. Can I come with him tomorrow?'

Flare with a "necklace" the girls made for him. I think he can probably relate too. Seeing as we once had four under the age of three! :)

Saturday, June 21, 2008

We got up at about 6:30am to start getting people ready to go. The girls had their last swimming class this morning at 9am so we were a bit rushed.... Nana picked up the boys and they left for Wasaga around 8. Swimming was fun. Scott got to see the girls for the first time, and they were super excited to have Dad there! They have all improved SO much....Keona can actually swim! :) Anyhow, we get into the change room afterwards and I'm taking all the clothes out of the swim bag. Shirts...skirts....underwear....wait...where's the underwear???? You must be kidding me.... They have packed their own bag for 7 weeks, and the one week that we have to leave right away for a long drive.... NO UNDERWEAR! ugh.... so back home we go. Of course Ella cries the whole way so instead of just running in to get panties, we now have to go in and feed Ella too. :) So, half an hour later....we're on our way!

The kids had a blast. They played in the little pools, and literally "slipped and slid" down the "slip and slide". It was hilarious! They had water fights and chased each other, and their cousins around. Thankfully, the rain held out until the end of the day when everyone was ready to go inside anyhow. Ella pretty much just slept on people all day long... I LOVE watching our kids have fun. :)

Thursday, June 19, 2008

This week has been so busy. Scott worked 38 hours in 3 days and still has 2 days to go... I've wanted to take the kids to the park all week, but it keeps on raining! Yesterday, we finally had blue skies for a while so we decided it was time to go! They were all excited to ride their bikes there and I pushed the double stroller with Ella and Nicole. The whole time we were there I kept counting, "1,2,3,4,5,6,7....8....9." in my head. lol We didn't lose anyone!

For the first time- Jeddy was terrified of the swings! I guess he has fallen enough times now, and fear has finally set in. Elijah didn't seem to enjoy the big swings either.... LOL

The big kids spent more time climbing and jumping off of the park equipment than anything else. We took some fun pictures. :)

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Today is the girls' swimming lessons. I'm really looking forward to them being over...so we can actually have a sleep in day! :P Definitely not picking the Saturday at 9am class next time... We brought Elijah to swimming with us so he could come shopping for Father's day afterwards. So we headed to the mall, and as soon as we got in there, Ella started crying.... so we went over to the bench and I fed and burped her. We headed over to Old Navy and then she started screaming...so I was carrying her around, pushing the stroller (or watching Keona push it), keeping track of 5 kids and picking out clothes. I seriously started to think I was nuts! Anyhow, we got our shopping done and stopped for milkshakes on the way home. Which Ella slept through! :)

Robbie came over this afternoon and it was such a nice day, we spent most of it outside.Keona improved her tree climbing device...she turned it into a swing! Now we have all the neighbourhood kids here to swing on Keona's skipping rope. She's quite the inventor. She didn't give up even after failing over and over again for like 2 weeks now. :)

Scott and I did some gardening. I'm quite pleased with our garden now. I LOVE my peonies, I just wish my hydrangeas would bloom....

Yesterday Scott took Elijah out to get his very own bike. Before he only had his sisters' princess bikes to ride. He didn't seem to mind up until last week. I asked him why he was riding the baby bike, and he said, "Because I don't want to ride a Cinderella bike...." haha. He's getting older I guess. Scott was quite happy to take him out and get a "cool" boy's bike!

We also took all the training wheels off the triplets' bikes! Eve learned how to ride a two-wheeler! Prayer is still practicing...she gave in and rode on Elijah's after a while. lol We noticed that Prayer is easily bored with things, and doesn't like them if she isn't immediately good at it....much like I was as a kid. :P

Thursday, June 12, 2008

We decided to have a new contest every month for the summer since there is no school. For this month we wanted the kids to memorize the books of the bible in order. Eve was determined to win this one. She practiced constantly! And after one week...she can name off all the books of the bible in order. Scott was testing her and even tried to trick her...but she was correcting us! :P Way to go Eve! So much for a "monthly" contest...

For her prize I took her to the mall, and she got a new notebook and gel pen. We also had some yummy smoothies on the way out! :) Mmmmm....

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

As if he didn't have it bad enough with the soap...today he was playing with his sisters, and Keona picked him up and put him on Prayer's back. Of course...he fell off. The poor little guy hit his ear on the edge of the coffee table and split it open. He got blood all over Scott's shirt and had to keep it bandaged up the rest of the day.

Other than that...we had a great day! :) Robbie came over and ate 6 plates of spaghetti! (Which ended up making him sick...) But we played outside, they rode bikes, caught worms, played catch and tried to climb a tree.

Not just "climb" a tree...but build a device to get them up this tree...lol. They tied an extra long skipping rope to a boomerang and threw it over the 10 foot branch. They then anchored it by tying it around Robbie's waist so Keona could use it to climb the side of the tree. When that didn't work, they wanted to tie one end to Robbie's bike so he could ride away and pull the rope - and Keona- up the tree. Very creative, I must say.